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About 67 percent of Gaza’s population is projected to face crisis-level food insecurity or worse by the end of 2026.
Published on October 16, 2026
Malnutrition and hunger rates in Gaza have reached “catastrophic” levels, according to the Palestinian health ministry, despite a US-brokered “ceasefire” aimed in part at allowing more food and medical supplies into the Strip as Palestinians face famine.
At least 466 Palestinians have died of malnutrition and starvation since 2024, with children accounting for one-third of the deaths, Gaza’s health ministry said on Friday, in a statement released for World Food Day.
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Elderly Palestinians accounted for the largest share of malnutrition-related deaths in the Strip, with 189 deaths, representing 40.5 percent of the total. The ministry said that 11 percent of elderly people went a whole day without food and 48 percent reduced portions so that their families could eat.
The ministry estimates that 74,200 children will need treatment for acute malnutrition by April 2027.
Malnutrition also drove up rates of anemia among pregnant women to 61 percent in 2026, up from 41 percent before the war in October 2023. Almost 4,000 pregnancy losses were recorded in the first half of 2026, more than three times the number recorded in the previous six months.
More than 1.4 million Palestinians – 67 percent of Gaza’s population – are projected to face crisis-level food insecurity or worse by the end of 2026 as the winter months approach, the ministry warned.
![Palestinians hold pots and containers while waiting for food from a charity kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on August 21, 2025. [Hatem Khaled/Reuters]](https://nachrichtenaktuell.top/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2025-08-22T100329Z_1357045443_RC2JBGARXWKN_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-GAZA-FAMINE-1760740794.jpg)
Profits to tackle the hunger crisis at risk
UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency, said gains in fighting Gaza’s hunger crisis were fragile. It warned that the situation could worsen due to supply disruptions entering the Strip, and demanded that the crossings remain open.
A UNICEF report published on Friday found that while the so-called “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas last October has let in more humanitarian aid and commercial supplies, acute malnutrition remains a risk.
The report said that the scaled-up food and nutrition response and the easing of restrictions on the entry of food and nutrition materials helped prevent a prolonged famine after it was declared in August 2025.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, UNICEF spokesman Ricardo Pires said the flow of commercial and humanitarian supplies must be predictable and remain continuous.
“The impact on children will obviously be felt if this situation is not resolved,” he said. “We cannot go back to a situation where children and families are not getting all the supplies, goods and services they need.”
Israel said on Wednesday that no commercial goods had entered the Strip in days, blaming the supply shortage on a tax dispute between local traders and Hamas. The Palestinian group dismissed Israel’s claims as “baseless,” while the Gaza government’s media office condemned Israel’s “blatant disinformation campaign and false statement.”
Israel’s move to halt the delivery has cut off a vital source of food and other goods in a territory where most depend on humanitarian aid after three years of war, repeated displacement and severe Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries.
Even before Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in 2023, an Israeli land, sea and air blockade limited the flow of food, clean water, fuel and medical supplies to enter the Strip.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health has called for international action to ensure unrestricted entry of food and medicine into the Strip. It also called for support to revive local food production.
